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Can I apply for Asylum?

People all over the world arrive at the United Port of Entries across the United States Border seeking for asylum. Asylum seekers present themselves to the United State Custom Border Patrol (CBP) without any document issued by the Department of State Consular Division and request to be admitted based on “credible fear of persecution and unwillingness to return to their country of nationality”.

United States of America is part of an international treaties and because it agrees to accept certain number of refugees in a given year if the applicant meets the statutory and case law requirements. A credible fear interview is conducted, and if the interviewer officer determines that the applicant has a credible fear, the applicant must be given the opportunity to formally submit an application for asylum that will be ultimately reviewed in an immigration Court where the applicant will have the constitutional rights to a due process, and the fifth amendment of the United States Constitution.

Asylum seekers are arriving aliens and by law they can be legally detained until the application is adjudicated, and it is discretionary of the CBP and/or ICE to release them upon the posting of a bond pending the filing of the NTA with the immigration court.

Recently, CBP officers at the Port of Entry bordering with Mexico are denying asylum seekers the right to prove credible fear and some are informing the applicants arriving from Central American Countries that the United States is not granting more asylum to people from that part of the continent; they are pressing them to withdraw their applications and are using with more frequency intimidatory tactics to return people to their countries. A Law suit has been filed against the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Patrol for violation of the constitutional and international treaties rights granted to asylum seekers under the constitution of the United States and the Refugee Act ratified by the United States of America.

Any person from any country that fears persecution because of race, nationality, membership in a particular social group, gender, religious belief or gender at the hands of the government or a person acting under the color of the law or who can prove that the government is unable or unwilling to protect him/her/ them can apply for asylum at the US border upon arrival and when seeking admission without proper documentation or if already in the United States with the asylum office and has one year from the date of entry to file the application for asylum.